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John Doe '98
"I'd like one day to run my own firm so I started off in engineering. I thought it would be good grounding to go out on the shop floor, get my hands dirty, and gain respect by knowing what I was talking about. And I saw coming to UB as a way of filling out what I didn't know about the rest of business and moving beyond a parochial view. I've gained a valuable mix of skills that I can put to use right away but, perhaps more important, I've developed a longer-term way of thinking about things.
At my job after second semester, I was able to apply what I'd learned in my finance courses about discounted cash flows and how to value a business. Occasionally some of my colleagues at the company would ask for my view on so-and-so's framework for dealing with a particular situation. I often found that my approach to problem solving was somewhat different from theirs. Our professors made us aware of the utility of frameworks but they placed more empasis on thinking carefully about each new set of circumstances and understanding the underlying problem. Through looking at different situations in case discussions everyday we became proficient at cutting through extraneous information and quickly spotting core issues. We also learned that you have to refine your decisions as you go on, and many of the cases followed companies over time so we could see how things evolved. As a result, we began to develop the kind of confidence that allows you to be decisive but also to see and admit your mistakes, then change your course of action.
Around the middle of the term in our Financial Reporting and Control class, everyone was tired and just wanted to be given "the answer." Instead, our professor talked about how, in the future, we would be among those who set the rules and have the conversations about what should and shouldn't be done in the way that business is conducted. He showed us that we could be a positive force in shaping the answers through thoughtful argument for ethical principles. It was really quite inspiring, and we gave him a standing ovation."